Cinnamon

Have you ever walked into the supermarket and been drawn to the bakery section? It might very well be because the market is piping cinnamon aroma through the store to entice you. It really works. While cinnamon is no longer as precious as rubies, it's one of the spices that seem to have almost universal appeal. There are actually two different spices called cinnamon: true cinnamon and cassia. True cinnamon is a white-flowered shrub originally grown only in Ceylon. The sweetly scented inner bark of the cinnamon tree is harvested and rolled into quills that are pale, soft and not too thick.

Dear Polly: For a delicious breakfast treat or snack, mix a little unsweetened cocoa powder into some sugar, just as you would mix up cinnamon sugar. Sprinkle this on hot buttered toast. Yummy! - Anne This is a delicious change from cinnamon toast. Dear Polly: While waiting for the hot water to come out so I can do my dishes, I found out that no less than a gallon of water will flow out before it gets hot. Now I put a big pan under the tap to catch all that water, and I use it to water my plants indoors and out. - Mrs. M. Dear Polly: When I was making jelly recently, I thought as I was stirring it that making jelly would be more fun if the pouring into the glasses were easier.

You probably have in your kitchen right now something that Columbus was looking for. Cinnamon! It was the search for an easier way to get cinnamon, and other exotic spices, that led European explorers into uncharted waters and ultimately to discover the Americas. Did you know that most of the cinnamon we get isn't cinnamon at all, but cassia? Cinnamon and cassia are the dried inner bark of two related evergreen trees in the laurel family. True cinnamon is tan, while cassia is a darker reddish brown, and the more strongly scented of the two. NORMANDY SPICED CHICKEN & RAISINS 2 chicken breasts, split 4 tablespoons raisins (preferably golden)

Lately, I've had trouble with leftovers. In our house, there seldom are many; we're busy so home cooking leans toward quick one-serving meals. However, when a bit of steak or a bite of chop was left, my always-hungry I'll-eat-anything-you-drop dog would step in. With Cinnamon around, there were no leftover problems. But she's gone now. On a Monday night a few weeks ago, I had her put to sleep. She'd been sick more often than not for nearly a year - starting last November with pneumonia.

Dear Polly: I have your recipe for spicy moth repellent. Your recipe calls for three or four sticks of cinnamon bark. I could not find this even after going to several stores, so I settled for cinnamon sticks. Will this work just as well? If I need to use cinnamon bark, where do I purchase this? - I.L.H. What I presume you are calling a cinnamon stick is exactly what the recipe calls for. Cinnamon is made from the inner bark of a certain type of evergreen tree. The sticks of cinnamon are actually curled bits of this bark.

Even Foxy misses Cinnamon, the friendly basset hound shotgunned to death over the Labor Day weekend and tossed with her neck broken on owner William Bauer's front lawn. Bauer found the body of his beloved Cinnamon within sight of his front door in Haycock Township, near Quakertown, Bucks County, on Labor Day morning. Foxy, an Akita, is his son's dog. "Those dogs were buddies," Bauer said. Foxy is "lost" without Cinnamon, he said. "They sense something is wrong right away.

The lighting of candles at sundown traditionally marks the beginning of Jewish holidays. During Hanukkah, the Feast of Lights, the candles are lit each night for eight nights, this year starting at sundown Tuesday. The holiday commemorates the miracle in the Temple of Jerusalem that occurred in the 2nd century B.C. when Mattathias and his sons defied Antiochus. It was thought there was only sufficient oil for one night's illumination in the temple, but the oil lasted for eight nights.

Manhattan purists and infusion-phobes, turn away. I used to be one of you, too. But no matter how much I pooh-poohed the idea of a cinnamon whiskey drink and looked askew at the vaguely "'hatten-esque" cocktail passed across the bar at James Restaurant, a few sips set my taste buds straight into a happy hum. That's because the James-hattan is a rarity in the land of fooffie drinks - a cocktail concocted with the same attention to balance as the often...

Did you know that spices can save you from your sweet tooth? A sugar-shy dessert seems sweeter if it's fragrant with cinnamon or spiked with clove. Intensifying the perception of sweetness makes it possible to reduce the amount of empty-caloried sugar. Even the simplest dessert - fresh fruit - seems somehow "special" if it's scented with spice. Spices intensify fruit's fresh fragrance and put the taste buds on notice that a sweet treat is coming. A few drops of vanilla can perform the same magic.

Q. I'm concerned because we've been having quite a controversy here in the supermarkets: plastic versus brown paper bags. One of the arguments against brown paper bags is that formaldehyde is added to them to increase wet strength, and storage of them in your home is hazardous because fumes escape into the air. If this is true, are brown paper bags safe to use in any type of food preparation, such as roasting a turkey? Mary Tipton Spokane, Wash. A. David Carleston, manager of the American Paper Institute, responds to your question: "The most direct and simple answer I can give you to your question on formaldehyde in brown paper bags is to say it is not used.

Manhattan purists and infusion-phobes, turn away. I used to be one of you, too. But no matter how much I pooh-poohed the idea of a cinnamon whiskey drink and looked askew at the vaguely "'hatten-esque" cocktail passed across the bar at James Restaurant, a few sips set my taste buds straight into a happy hum. That's because the James-hattan is a rarity in the land of fooffie drinks - a cocktail concocted with the same attention to balance as the often...

We stopped by Emerald Fish in Cherry Hill's Barclay Shopping Center the other day for lunch. We had seen plenty of reviews of dinner there, but wanted to see whether the afternoons offered similar eclectic seafood fare. The answer, in a word, is yes. The place has been owned since March 2006 by Mark and Ann Rowand, once employees of the former Emerald Fish owner. This day, both were in the kitchen, which is separated from the dining room by a low wall. We started with cups of crab and corn chowder ($5.50)

The December marathon of creaming, shaping, frosting and filling is under way. Decorate the gingerbread people! Get moving on the cutouts, kringle, biscotti, kolache and tea cakes! Even occasional bakers go all out at this time of year, paying homage to a time-honored tradition with cookie trays that are mosaics of color, taste and texture. "In the United States, this concept of putting together a cookie tray is because we're such a melting pot," said Eileen Talanian, a chef and cookbook author from Laverock.

The battle against child obesity seems to be all over the news. Children are fat, and parents are desperate: Extreme measures such as gastric-bypass surgery, tummy tucks and fat farms are becoming more prevalent. Schools are hard-pressed to slim their kids down, and talk of adding extra gym classes, getting rid of snack machines, and implementing more-nutritious school lunches is buzzing. I even heard the ridiculous suggestion that physical-education classes be outlawed, because most kids just stand around in gym, taking fatal blows to their self-esteem while the athletic kids make fun of them.

The minute the season's first cranberries appear in my local supermarket, I reach for a package. The crimson berries, which are sold fresh in the fall, have been my inspiration for many interesting recipes. I've combined them with port to make a sauce for roasted pork tenderloins and cooked them with sugar and orange juice to use as a glaze for wine-poached pears. This year, I've added cranberry-cherry marmalade to my repertoire. The idea originated in New York, where my husband and I recently enjoyed brunch in a small Upper West Side restaurant.

The Weavers Way food cooperative is facing possible collapse after revelations that $108,000 was either embezzled from this beloved West Mount Airy institution or simply lost through years of incompetent financial management. Yesterday, about 300 people from the 3,000 families who shop and donate their time at the co-op gasped in disbelief as they learned during a meeting that Weavers Way is deep in debt to vendors and tax collectors and cannot make payroll for its 54 employees.

Like many of life's pleasures, pears require patience. If you bite into one before its prime, you'll get no clue about the delights to come. It will be crunchy and taste slightly sour - sensations more akin to an apple. Pears are harvested while still hard so they'll bruise less during shipping. But unlike most fruits, they continue to ripen after picking. Within a few days, they go from green and bland to lush, tender and sweet. That means you'll have to plan your pear pleasures.

Have you ever walked into the supermarket and been drawn to the bakery section? It might very well be because the market is piping cinnamon aroma through the store to entice you. It really works. While cinnamon is no longer as precious as rubies, it's one of the spices that seem to have almost universal appeal. There are actually two different spices called cinnamon: true cinnamon and cassia. True cinnamon is a white-flowered shrub originally grown only in Ceylon. The sweetly scented inner bark of the cinnamon tree is harvested and rolled into quills that are pale, soft and not too thick.

Mary Ann and Tom Rende, with 57 years in education between them, have seen an apple or two in their day. So they are the perfect pair to organize the Medford Apple Festival's annual bake-off, which they have done for the last six years. This year, the festival, which is being held today at Kirby's Mill, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. About 20,000 people from along the East Coast converge upon this small community each October to indulge in a variety of apple delicacies.